FIG. 1 shows a system diagram of typical remote access servers (RAS) 2 and the interconnections for connecting a subscriber to the Internet. Currently, dial-up Internet access is provided to a subscriber through a remote access server typically located within the local calling area of the subscriber and maintained by either an Internet Service Provider (ISP) or a local or inter-exchange carrier on behalf of an ISP. A subscriber using a personal computer 4 dials into the remote access server 2 via a modem (not shown) and initiates a setup with the remote access server 2. The call travels from the subscriber's modem to the telephone company's end office (EO) 6 which routes the call to the remote access server 2. The remote access server 2 identifies and verifies that the subscriber is permitted to make a connection and have access to the Internet during setup. The subscriber may then send and receive data with the Internet 8. The remote access server 2 provides the connection between the circuit-based network of the telephone system 3 and the packet-based network of the Internet 8. One drawback of this configuration is that it requires the deployment of remote access servers 2 in close proximity to the ISP subscribers, in order to avoid long distance or toll charges for the subscriber, thereby making upgrades and repairs difficult for an Internet service provider.
FIG. 2 illustrates the architecture of a prior art remote access server 2. The remote access server 2 receives telephone calls from the telephone network 3 into a circuit network server 12. The circuit network server passes the circuit-based signals of each telephone call to a dial access server 14 via a circuit switch fabric 13. The dial access server 14 demodulates the voice-band data of the circuit-based signals and extracts the Internet Protocol (IP) packets for routing to the appropriate Internet destination. The packets are passed to a packet network server 16 via a packet switch fabric 15. From the packet network server 16 they are distributed into the packet network 8. It is well known that a packet switch fabric 15 can be implemented with a variety of technologies, such as an arbitrated packet bus or a centralized switching module. The dial access server 14 uses the packet switch fabric 15 to move the extracted IP packets to a packet network server 16 and the associated packet network interface appropriate for delivering the packet to its intended destination. The architecture of FIG. 2 carries the cost and complexity burden of two separate and independent switch fabrics: one circuit and one packet. In addition, the time division multiplexed structure of circuit network interfaces make them more costly at higher rates than the corresponding packet network interfaces.